El Arcotete — Attraction in Chiapas

The level of enjoyment you get from this place will depend on your expectations. If you are expecting a well organized, entertaining activities and lots to do, you might be disappointed. It doesn't have a lot of information, it is run by local indigenous people in a very laid back, simple way, and although there are different things to do, it is not overly entertaining in itself. The entry is $10 pesos p/person. There are grounds you can walk or bike through. Fun place to take photos. The natural arc rock is free. The Zipline is $150 per person, and it includes two ziplines. Was safe enough. To enter the grotto is $15 pesos per person. This is kind of different and fun. But crowd control is not practiced: it can get a bit cramped in some of the small places. Also hard access for overweight or really tall people. There were also option of boat rides, rappelling, camping and tightrope. But we didn't participate in those. My teenage children moatly enjoyed because of the novelty of the grotto, riding their bikes and the ziplines, and they had their drone and camera to play around taking cool photos. It would've been nice to take a picnic, or to rent a palapa and have a BBQ on the grill, but we didn't plan accordingly. Overall, it is a lovely spot for a day out in nature. It was so clean and fresh, and plenty of families were out and about enjoying the sunshine. It has a restaurant and a comedor selling snacks, but we didn't try those out either. I gave it 5 start because it is really is a nice place to visit, I loved the grotto, and the excuse to hang out with my family. But I also understand that it is not a highly modernized and efficient...

We saw the Arch first and was blown away at the size and beauty! Then we found our way to the cave which has stunning formations and amazing openings with views below the Arch. The wild flowers along the trail and the fresh air were also a pleasant change from being in the city. We are older and in okay shape and we found it not strenuous, taking our time to go up the steps and squeeze/squat through several small openings…. Totally worth it and I highly recommend not missing this place if you are in San Cristobal. But one thing no one has mentioned, is the little snack and food place there has by far the best empanadas we had our entire Mexico trip! I could see the young lady making the dough and pressing it to make the empanadas by hand. There were bags of ears of dried corn next to the kitchen so my bet is she makes the corn flour as well. Don’t miss those empanadas if visiting Arcotete! They are big, we were stuffed with two each! We took a private taxi there and back… I highly recommend this so you...

The caves are quite cool but overall an underwhelming experience if you are used to nature. Should you have some time to kill, it is worth a visit but don’t break your back trying to get here. The individuals working there are not friendly, greeted us with their hand out, and tried to keep my partner’s change. Entrance fees are 10 for the park and 15 for the caves. There is a 5 peso charge for bathrooms. The zip lining did not look very exciting. I saw no horses. The water is very polluted. There were a handful of rainbow salamander creatures which were quite beautiful. They did have snacks and drinks for sale as well as a restaurant on site. On departure, they wouldn’t let us take a marked taxi and wanted us to get into one of their own unmarked vehicles. I didn’t get the best vibes overall. We ended up taking a collectivo back, which you catch just...